In 1871 Anton von Werner moved to Berlin, now the capital of a newly united Germany. In 1875 he was appointed Director of the Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin. Von Werner, whose views on art found favour with the Kaiser’s conservative taste, was known above all for his large historical canvases. Sculptor Gustav Eberlein was commissioned by Josef Ludwig Leichner, a cosmetics manufacturer, to build a monument to the composer Richard Wagner. The solemn unveiling of this statue took place in Berlin’s Tiergarten in September 1903. In the last of his major monumental works, on which he worked for five years, Anton von Werner immortalised numerous important personages from the arts, industry and politics.